Home (II) (2005) User Reviews

A Very Solid Documentary

[wolf-172 · 8/10 · 20 October 2007]

Caught this one on the Sundance channel and was completely moved by the main character's journey.

We follow a single mother trying her best to provide for her family as she goes down the road of the American Dream: home ownership.

As Sharice gets closer to a piece of the pie, things get more complex and she's forced to make some tough decisions for her and her family. The ending is quite amazing and offers great insight into the trappings of inner city America.

This movie makes documentary film-making look easy. It's well constructed, has compelling characters, and tells a great story.

Very nice work.

A very interesting and bittersweet documentary

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 August 2008]

It's an interesting coincidence that I saw HOME the day after I watched the amazing documentary STREET FIGHT, as both films are about Newark, New Jersey. STREET FIGHT is about an underdog's attempt to become mayor with a promise to help do something about the lack of affordable housing and HOME is about a family who desperately want to get out of the housing projects in Newark. If possible, try to see both films, as they work well together.

HOME is about a divorced mother of six (Sheree) who works and lives in the projects. Her dream is to move into a nice home in a nice neighborhood and a local social service organization is assisting her to clean up her credit and qualify for the home--and also offer her tons of financial help for free. The social worker (Mary) is extremely active and almost constantly trying to help get Sheree into the home, though there are a lot of things working against them. Some are well outside of Sheree's control while most seem to be the result of Sheree's sense of "learned helplessness"--like she just can't allow herself to succeed or perhaps wants to make herself fail just to "get it out of the way". It seems that Sheree cannot envision success and therefore does much to undermine herself at the same time she's trying to leave her neighborhood. This is a wonderful but rather sad microcosm of the problems of some in the bottom of the socioeconomic system, as for some there are often psychological and emotional barriers that limit success.

In the end, the agency is forced to give the home to another needy family--and you see them crying as they move into their fully decorated new home. Truly a bittersweet ending seeing this one happy family and Sheree's family even worse off when all is said and done.

It's a well made and very involving documentary that leaves you thinking. I liked how it didn't try to answer all the questions the movie raised. Because of this, it would be a great film to show students to stir up a marvelous discussion on many of the topics brought up in it.

I do not see how this is rated less than 10 out of 10!

[montel111 · 10/10 · 11 October 2012]

I saw this on NETFLIX. The summary is "This documentary examines the uphill battle that many people, including a single mother, face in chasing the American dream of home ownership."

This is more than a film about a single mother or lower inner city. This is a film about what ALL of us go through when trying to chase a goal.

This film is PERFECT for any parent with TEENAGERS (especially young women). This film is not just about home ownership, but choices, families, and timing.

I found myself COMPLETELY EMOTIONALLY INVESTED nearing the end of the film. Will she buy a home, how can the woman MARY be so SELFLESS, and what will happen with Sheree's family.

To find out the answers, well you AND your family should watch!